Gnosis

“As understanding deepens, the further removed it becomes from knowledge.” ― C.G. Jung,

There is controversy on whether "Gnosis" can be considered a Goddess - at the very least, I consider her a Divine Feminine Archetype in the manner of Sophia, albeit with a more personal connection.

Gnosis is a feminine Greek noun, literally meaning "knowledge" but with a signification towards "knowledge of the arcane", or secret mysteries. Where Sophia, or wisdom, is an expression of understanding with Divinity within Her own right, Gnosis is experential and subjective, and her existence depends upon our participation. She is the conjoining of our own nature with revelation. Gnosis is spiritual knowledge - and specifically, of the divine spark within. It is the laying hold of the supernal, of what exists beyond the veil. She is revealed in each of us in different ways and times - but the experience of knowing something you have always known, but you don't know how you know it comes closest to my understanding of her. Often, it proves itself out after her initial impression. It is spiritual awareness, and transcendant. Mystical enlightemnet and inner experential contemplation are her wells.

Here, she is pictured in the depth of creation, with the cosmos eternally swirling within her womb. The stars of inner light and being emanate from her in all directions, and as we become more enlightened within her, so too she becomes more as light. The moon presents as the feminine beginning of all wisdom, and both the serpent, Ophis, set upon her wrist and the haloed light around her signify infinity, where we begin and return as an unending process and cycle of creation